Jury takes less than 2 hours to convict Kustok of killing wife

Family members of the victim as well as prosecutors give their emotional reaction to the guilty verdict reached in the Allan Kustok murder trial.

Family members of the victim as well as prosecutors give their emotional reaction to the guilty verdict reached in the Allan Kustok murder trial.

Andy Grimm and Lauren ZumbachTribune reporters

Allan Kustok was found guilty this afternoon in the 2010 shooting death of his wife Anita "Jeanie" Kustok.

As jurors were polled about their verdict, Kustok bowed his head but showed no emotion as his sister wept. His daughter, sportscaster Sarah Kustok, was not in the courtroom as the verdict was read.

“I can’t say I came in feeling he was completely innocent,” said Kustok’s sister, Sharon Crooks, outside of the courtroom. “There were some facts I did not know. I had to hear it for myself. There’s no victory for this trial. Our families are both devastated. We all love Jeanie.”

The jury began deliberating at 1 p.m., took a break for lunch and returned the verdict by 2:45 p.m. Kustok faces 45 years to life in prison.

Sarah Kustok, a former Chicago SportsNet broadcaster who now works in New York, testified Monday that she did not believe her father had killed her mother. Her older brother, former Northwestern University quarterback Zak Kustok, previously told the SouthtownStar that he did not support his father.

Allan Kustok told investigators that on the morning of Sept. 29, 2010, he awoke to the sound of a gunshot and saw his wife dead beside him in bed, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the face with a .357 Magnum pistol he gave her as an anniversary gift either in or near her hand.

Kustok then waited some period of time — prosecutors have said two hours or more; the defense argues as little as 45 minutes — with the body, wiping off blood from his wife’s face and hands, and firing the remaining five bullets in the gun into an armoire at the bedside, claiming he feared he might turn the weapon on himself.

He then wrapped the body in bed linens and drove with it to the emergency room at Palos Community Hospital.

During closing arguments Tuesday morning, defense lawyer Rick Beuke attacked a prosecution case that he characterized as marred by sloppy investigators and lack of a motive for Kustok to have shot his wife of 34 years as she slept.

"What happened? Did they give you... One scintilla of evidence that helps you make sense of that?" Beuke asked jurors during closing arguments. "What drove him to become a crazed lunatic at five o'clock in the morning?"

Prosecutor Jennifer Gonzalez presented just that in her rebuttal, referring to testimony that Kustok and his wife had an idyllic marriage even as Allan Kustok carried on multiple affairs.

Several relatives, including Jeanie Kustok's friends and siblings, said they thought Allan Kustok would have done anything for his wife.

"I submit he would have done anything for her, including taking her life," Gonzalez said. "I submit to you that he killed her... So she didn't need to be humiliated about the double life he'd been leading."

Sarah Kustok's testimony about her parents' devotion to each other, the most emotional testimony of the four-week trial, Gonzalez discounted as well.

"Sarah Kustok is living in the past. She living at a time when her parents were in love," Gonzales said. "The defendant checked out of that life.

"He was done with Jeanie Kustok. He just didn't know how to cut the cord."

John Runko, Jeanie Kustok's brother, said the verdict was "kind of bittersweet. We lost a great sister."

"Nobody wins in this, we're just glad justice was served," he said.

Patti Krcmery, Jeanie Kustok's sister, thanked the prosecution team, who she said "truly showed my sister and how wonderful she was."

Prosecutor Jennifer Gonzalez, who spoke with the jury, said they ultimately found it "unbelievable" that Jeanie Kustok would have wanted the gun.

Gonzalez said it was difficult to question Sarah Kustok. "My heart goes out to her."

"Sarah is still thinking of her parents the way they were when she was being raised," she said.